William gray



(No Model.)

W. GRAY.

BASE BALL BAT. No. 300,360. Patented June 17, 1884.

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UNiTEn Srnrns Parana Cri ics.

'XVILLIAM GRAY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ERNEST CADY, OF SAME PLACE.

BASE-BALL BAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 300,360, dated June 17, 1884.

(No model.)

To aid wit/0222 it pray concern.-

Be it known that I, XVILLIAM GRAY, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bats for Ball-Playing; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whereby a person skilled in the art can make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The figure is a side View of a baseball bat embodying my improvement.

My improvement relates to the class of implements used in playing games of ballsuch as base-ball or cricket-bats, tennis, racquets, lacrosse-sticks,a11d the like-whieh areheld by the player in striking the ball.

It consists in a hat or implement of the above-described class, with the handle, or the portion that is grasped by the hands, of the player, roughened by the application of sand or the like granulated substance firmly attached to the bat-handle.

I amawarc that handles of bats have been Wound with string, and have been made of irregular outline, in order that they be more securely held by the player, and such metlr ods of corering or roughening the handle to aid the grasp are not within the scope of my invention.

In the accompanying drawing the letter a denotes abase-bolt ball of ordinary outline and n'iaterial with the handlcsection b covered with a hard granulated material, as sand, firmly attached to the surface of the handle bymeans of shellac or any equivalent cementing substance. The shellac may be applied in a liquid state by means of a brush, and the sand or other roughening material dusted on 0 to any desired extent; but preferably only so much of the sand is applied as can be firmly held in place by the cementing material used. The bat, as thus prepared, can be firmly grasped in the hand of the ph yer, with no 45 danger of its slipping from. his grasp, as so often occurs in the use of the bats of the prior art.

It is evident that the class of articles to which my improvement is adapted is not lim- 5o ited to bats or implements in any single or particular game of ball, but that the said improvement is applicable to a Wide class, and for such I desire to claim it.

The roughening material may be sand or 55 any other comparatively hard substance in a granulated form, and the substaneeas shellac-bymoans of which it is attached to the surface of the handle is preferably of awaicrproof nature.

I claim as my invention 1. As an improved article of manufacture, a baseball or cricket bat or the like implement having its handlesection covered with sand or the like granulated material iir'mly ce- 6 5 mented thereto, all substantiall as described, and for the purpose set forth.

2. As an improved article of manufacture,

a base-ball hat, (1., having the surface of its handle-section l) roughened by a covering- 70 layer of granulated material firmly attached thereto by shellac or the like cementing material, all substantially as described.

ILL IAN GRAY.

\Vitn esses:

Cans. L. Bunnnrr, H. R. W'rLLIAirs.

n f r It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 300,360, granted June 17, 1884, upon the application of William Gray, of Hartford, Connecticut, for an improvement in Base-Ball Bats, an error appears'in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 33, the Words base-bolt ball should read base-ball bat and that the Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein to make it conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 24th day of June, A. D. 1884. [SEAL] M. L. JOSLYN, Acting Secretary of the Interior. Oountersigned BENJ. BUTTERWOR'IH,

Commissioner of Patents. 

